: : If a massive shortage of oil comes about in the next 10 to 15 years, it will not surprise me if the U.S. economy takes a dip. I believe however, that we will find alternatives.

SDF: I think this is the proper place to ask, WHERE? The oil shale reserves of Utah and Wyoming? The question that needs to be asked about oil shale is one of whether it costs a barrel of oil per barrel of oil, i.e. whether it is economical in terms NOT of money BUT of resource expenditure, to extract such shale oil from the ground.

The point is that it TAKES OIL to convert global industry to oil substitutes, and that if such substitutes are "adopted" too late, there won't be enough oil left to convert. Meanwhile, global industry, struggling under the yearly crisis of overproduction, increases its oil consumption by, what was it, 2% per year?